Indian River County soup kitchens see increase in visitors

Kayla Giorgio, left, 22, laughs as she feeds her son, Trenton Clark, 20 months, green beans while eating dinner at The Source in Vero Beach recently. “I don’t know what I would have done without these people,” said Giorgio, who has visited The Source occasionally for a meal for the past six months since moving back to Vero Beach from Iowa.

Michael Kanehl, center, speaks with the Rev. Michael Ward, of St. Mark's Anglican Church, while volunteering during dinner at The Source in Vero Beach recently. Since 2007, the facility has seen a 27 percent decrease in donations, but a 100 percent increase in clients, Executive Director Sonya Morrison said.

Five years ago, some would have said Anthony Crincoli was living the American Dream.

The Vero Beach resident ran his own marine business, collecting and selling marine life to South Florida clientele. He owned a beach house in Fort Pierce, enjoyed the sea on his many boats, and afforded a good life for himself and his son.

Today, those are distant memories to the unemployed 49-year-old who has become a regular at The Source's soup kitchen in Vero Beach.

For six months, the single father has counted on the soup kitchen to help him and his 13-year-old son get by.

"We don't really have much money for food now," Crincoli said. "The Source has pretty much been our life source."

Crincoli, who lost his business and has been job searching for more than two years, said the money he collects from the tenants at his beach house is barely enough to pay bills. So he and his son often take an evening ride on their scooter to The Source, where they join about 100 others also in need of a free meal.

"We're seeing more and more people like Anthony these days," said Sonya Morrison, executive director of The Source.

During the past three years, the face of those in need of charity has changed radically, she said.

Data released in November by the state's Agency for Workforce Innovation showed that 34,364 Treasure Coast residents are jobless and actively seeking work. With a 14.2 percent unemployment rate, Indian River County is ranked fifth among Florida's 67 counties.

Soup kitchens throughout the Treasure Coast are witnesses to these economic strains.

In 2004, the Source's kitchen fed 550 people. Last year, it fed 4,751, about half of whom had a job or a home but still were struggling.

"The economy has been changing and there are some people out there that just can't make it," Morrison said.

A couple of blocks north of The Source, Our Father's Table Soup Kitchen used to open only three days a week, but recently felt the need to open each weekday, to feed about 100 people a day.

"There's a lot of reasons why more and more people are coming to us," said John May, president of the soup kitchen. "There's not enough jobs, rehabs or schools. Our regulars are people who are homeless, but also those who have been laid off and just can't find new jobs or who have low income."

May, who has been involved with the soup kitchen for 14 years, said he now sees more people receiving its services, but that the supply does not meet the demand.

"Donations aren't coming in like they used to," he said. "Everybody is going through hardships today. Everybody."

May, like Morisson and Crincoli, wants people to know it's not just the homeless who visit soup kitchens, but others who have been affected by economic downfalls as well.

"This could happen to anyone — your brother, your son, or your friend" Crincoli said. "People just can't be ashamed to ask for help. We're the same people we were before; only difference is now we're eating here."